Byron-4 (21 page)

What difference does it make? And I don’t love him.” She looked up in time to see Paul Freedom get out of the car and she swore he had a gun. “Shit! You guys have me so worked up about this insurance thingy that I’m seeing things. Damn it, why did you have to say they’d kill me?”

“Tell me what has you spooked, Taylor. Right now, tell me.” Taylor heard the panic in the other woman’s voice and reacted to it.

“Paul Freedom, he’s getting out of a rental car and I think I saw a gun. He’s coming in. See what you’ve done?”

“Taylor, is there a back door to the place? Somewhere you can hide until I can get a unit over there?” Panic made Taylor’s mind shut down. He would be in the building any minute and there was a gun.

“No. He has a gun. One in his hand. I...he’ll be here any minute. Oh, Christ, he’s going to kill me, isn’t he? I’m so sorry. Tell—”

“Listen to me! Lay the phone down, but don’t let him see it. I want to hear everything he says. Be calm. I’m sending a unit to you now. Taylor, keep him talking.” She laid the phone on the desk and covered it with a tissue. Taylor was trembling so hard she wasn’t sure how she would keep him from noticing and picked up her bag and began searching through it as if looking for something. She was frowning, thinking of what to say, when he opened the door.

“Well, hello, Taylor. I didn’t know if you’d show up today. It being your last day and all.” She looked up, surprised that he sounded so normal when everything inside of her was jumping like a kid high on sugar.

“I told you I’d be in today, Mr. Freedom. I’ve never lied to you. I don’t suppose you brought me my last paycheck, did you? I sure could use it.” She tried to giggle, but it came off sounding manic even to her.

“Hummm, no. Are you alone here? Any clients come in? I thought I heard you talking to someone.” She watched as he went to the two offices and tested the doors.

Both were locked and she didn’t have a key.

“Singing. I was singing Christmas carols. You know, trying to get into the spirit of things. You going anywhere for Christmas, Mr. Freedom?”

“You know, Taylor, if you would have just waited until March, none of this would have been necessary. We needed that extra time to get the money transferred and laundered, but you leaving now, well, it put a damper on things for us.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. What wouldn’t have been necessary? And what money?” She was terrified. Taylor could feel the sweat trickle down her spine.

“The insurance money. We thought you’d be too stupid to figure it out, and it turns out, we were correct. Hire stupid, Jason said. Too bad he had to die too. We might have been able to pull this little scam somewhere else with his help. But it couldn’t be helped.

He wanted to back out and come clean. The stupid bastard actually came to like you”

“Jason is dead? What happened to him?” If a man could kill his own brother, then he really wouldn’t have any trouble killing her.

“You killed him. Well, that’s what the police are going to think. A jealous rage, I think it looks like. He and his girlfriend are going to be found dead in their bed and you are going to be blamed. I’ve been setting that up for weeks, little notes to his email address from you. Little notes hidden in his office. Yes, ma’am, some days it was just too much fun making you two pretend lovers. You’re also going to be blamed for the missing money. It’s all in your name.”

“I didn’t take any money, you did. You were collecting from dead—” Shit!

“Ah, so you did figure it out, did you? Oh well, it’s too late now. Yes, collecting money from the dead. You didn’t file the correct paperwork and took that money for yourself. Bad girl, you should have to go to jail, but I have better plans. Come on now, gather your things and get in the car. We’re going for a ride, you and me.” She wanted to giggle because she thought about all those flipping movies she’d been watching since she’d found the money and it was all true. She was going to die because she had stuck her nose where it didn’t belong.

“I don’t want to die, Mr. Freedom. I won’t tell anyone, I promise. I was going to Florida tonight and no one will ever know.” The slap came fast and it knocked her to the floor.

“Get out there now, bitch. I don’t have time for this shit. Grab your stuff and get going.” Spittle came from his mouth and she thought there was foam there. Hysterics were making her giggle and he slapped her again.

Grabbing up everything off the desk, she dumped it in her purse and hoped that Cait was sending someone to rescue her. But she happened to glance at the phone and saw the low battery warning and almost cried. It would be dead soon. She’d never charged it in all the time she’d had it.

She was shoved in the front seat of the car and he dumped her things in the seat beside her. Holding the gun on her as he moved around the front of the car, he got in the driver’s door and put on his seat belt. His mumbled “seat belt” had her giggling again and it earned her a cuff to the face. If he kept this up, she’d be dead before they got out of the parking lot. When they were about three blocks from the office, three cruisers sped past them in the opposite direction. Too late.

~CHAPTER 21~

The pounding was reverberating through his head. Byron never answered the door before noon and whoever it was at his door was going to pay for this. He nearly went naked, but at the last minute grabbed his jeans and slipped them on without bothering to snap them. Jerking open the door nearly had him slamming it shut again on who was standing there. Spencer was a dead man.

“This had better be fucking important or Cait will be a widow before your kid is born. What the fuck do you want?”

“Taylor’s been kidnapped. Get dressed. I’ll take you to the house. Mom said not to let you drive. O’Malley has been trying to reach you for an hour.” Byron only moved to drop to the floor. Everything in the room kept spinning around and every time he thought he had a handle on it, it was spinning again. He felt Spencer push his head between his knees and talk to him.

“Come on; don’t fall apart on me now. I need you to get dressed so we can help find her. Please, Byr, get it together. We’ll find her and bring her back.”

“I’m okay. I’m going to be okay. I have to...what happened? She was here until...she had to work today and must have...my car, does she have it? We can track her with the GPS.”

“No. There were no cars in the lot when the police got there. Taylor told O’Malley that Paul Freedom had a rental. He came in the office and held her at gun point and she left with him. That girl of yours, she’s a smart cookie. O’Malley said she remained calm the whole time he was telling her what he was going to do to her.”

“I’ll give her an award when I see her again,” Byron snarled at his brother. “Damn it, Spence, I love her. Did he hurt her? If he did, I’m going to kill him.”

“O’Malley thinks he hit her a couple of times. The police tracked them as far as they could before the battery on her phone died. The Feds are taking over the case and their toys are better than the locals. Byron, come on, we need to get going. Mom is beside herself with worry and needs to see you. She’s terrified we aren’t telling her something and she’s afraid you’re hurt too.”

Spencer’s phone was ringing and as he answered it, Byron made himself get up and get moving. He had to take a quick shower to wash away some of the sleep still lingering in his body and was getting dressed when he thought of a few things to ask Spencer. He stepped into his room and his brother was there, along with Jamie.

“Have you heard anything yet? Do you know what time he took her? How long she’s been...gone?” He couldn’t say kidnapped. That sounded so final and he wasn’t going there. He glanced at Jamie. He looked devastated.

“Around ten-thirty or so. Taylor was on the phone with O’Malley when he came in and she had Taylor lay the phone on the desk so she could hear. There’s something else that’s not known by the media yet. Paul apparently killed his brother Jason and a girl he was seeing. It was brutal and savage. He’d been setting Taylor up for months now, leaving notes from her to Jason, emails and stuff. I just found out that the accounts had been in Taylor’s name for over a year. Taylor figured it out around Thanksgiving and has been working with Devin since the night Marie was born. I don’t know the exact figure, but it’s right around seven hundred million in insurance fraud.”

“And now kidnapping and murder. Christ, if I had let her stay with me, she’d be safe right now. This is my fault.” Jamie crumbled to the chair and started sobbing.

“She’s been staying here, Jamie, and it didn’t matter. Taylor has been with me for the past three nights and I couldn’t keep her safe. He was a fool to mess with ours. He’ll make a mistake and we’ll get him and bring her home. I swear. I love her and I need her. Please don’t blame yourself. She’ll kick your ass if she hears about it and you know it.” Byron got what he hoped for, a little chuckle from Jamie.

He was pulling his coat on when the envelopes fell out. The small box nearly hit the floor, but Jamie was close enough to snag it before it did. He handed it to back and Byron handed him the envelope with his name on it.

“This is for you.” Byron watched as his brother opened it up and when he had apparently read it, he dropped to the chair right behind him. Spencer handed Jamie a glass of water.

“The box, it’s from Taylor. She...Christ, she bought it for me. It’s the cufflinks, I’m betting. I’ve been coveting them for years. She must have...she bought them for me and I treated her like shit. Byr, what have I done?”

“We’ll get her back. We have to, now buck up. Mom will be pissed enough that she’s gone. Let’s not give her any reason to be more pissed off. Byron, get in that monster you call a car. Jamie, open your gift or not, but let’s get a move on.” Both Byron and Jamie looked at each other then their brother.

“You keep that up and I’m telling Cait what you got her for Christmas. You so won’t be a happy man if I do that to you,” Byron teased.

“You wouldn’t...yes, you would. All right, but we do need to get moving. I’ll drive.

I promised Mom I would and I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have fifty women like O’Malley mad at me than my mom right now.”

They went by the hospital first to see their mother. She asked to talk to Byron alone and the others walked out. Damon was still seeing patients so he wouldn’t be in until later.

“There’s something I need to tell you. Something you should know. It’s about Taylor. She...well, she’s a submissive. I don’t know what you can do to help her, but you should know.” Byron looked at his mother for a whole ten seconds and threw back his head and laughed. He kissed her on her mouth and then on her forehead.

“How long have you known? I should have known better than to try and keep things from you. What else? I suppose you know about the clubs too. Dam...err, darn it, Mom, what am I going to do with you? I won’t hurt her.”

“Good heavens, Byron, I know that. And I’ve known since you bought the first shop. The property you bought, didn’t you think the price was a little cheap, even for that size of a building?”

“You owned the building. I’ll be damned. You sneaky little...did you tell Dan? Of course you did. ‘Never keep a secret from a spouse.’ I’m going to marry her when I find her, because we will. I plan to make her very happy. And I also thought you should know I need her. Need her with a passion I’ve never felt for anyone other than you. I love you, Mom.”

“I know you do, son. I need you too. Now get out of here and find that girl. That bastard fucked with the wrong family when he took someone we love.” Byron wasn’t sure if he was shocked more by the passion in her voice or the words that accompanied it. Kissing her again, he decided that he would just keep that to himself.

He pulled out the envelope when they got back in the car and he decided he wasn’t reading it. He opened the glove box and shoved it in there with the other things he wanted to forget, mostly parking tickets. The police station was a hive of activity when they arrived.

~~~

Taylor felt the cold air surrounding her. She wanted to snuggle closer to Byron, but she couldn’t move. Then the pain rippled through her, jerking her awake. The gag in her mouth kept her from screaming.

“Ah yes, there you are. You’ve been out so long that I didn’t think I’d get to tell you good-bye. Do you like your accommodations? I’ve been keeping this little getaway for years and when you messed up my plans, I just knew this was going to be the perfect place to take you. I can’t have them finding you for some time. I need to collect my money and get out of the States before that happens. And by the time they find Jason and his lovely companion what’s her name, you’ll be a frozen stiff. That is if the animals don’t decide to snack on you first.”

They were in a rundown building, a house, she thought. The windows were busted out and there didn’t seem to be anything in the place but some worn carpet and some tattered material that might have once been curtains at the window frames. She was tied to a chair by her arms and legs and there was a rag in her mouth. She wanted to scream at him, but he had taken that chance away.

“I can see by your face that you have questions. Well, I don’t have time for them today. Why don’t you put them in an email and send them to me?” His maniacal laughter bounced off the empty walls and through the house.

Her box of things and her purse were sitting by the chair. He had taken her coat off and her shoes and she could feel the cold seeping into her at an alarming rate. If she stayed here all night, she would be dead by morning. It was supposed to drop to below zero tonight. She knew this because she had been excited about the temperature change when she moved to Florida—an eighty degree change.

“I must be off now. You have a good life, well what’s left of it anyway. I shall think of you often when I’m spending my millions.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek and hugged her to him. Screaming behind the gag, she watched as he waved and moved out the door. A few minutes later, she heard the car start and then it too was silent.

She was going to die. Right here in this cold room tied to a chair. Twisting her arm around as best she could, she could see that it was just after three in the afternoon. She knew it was afternoon because even though it was cloudy, the sun was still out. Her feet were beginning to burn and her nose was running. She wondered fleetingly if she’d be covered in snot when they pulled her frozen body out, if they ever found her.